Exhibition "The rotten smell is you"

Artists:

Kristina Bajilo, Nikola Balberčakova, Sofija Đovanoti, Đejmi Hadrović, Aja Janković, Working group Merlinka (Pavle Banović, Marija Iva Gocić, Lea Rivka Lapiover, Sara Pantović, Kloe Sasi), Milica Mijajlović Živković, Peni Kej, Džesika Stoja, Zuzana Svatik

Curator: Jelisaveta Rapaić

*At the exhibition opening, there will be a half dance lecture performance by Aja Janković, starting at 7:30 pm

The second presentation of the exhibition The rotten smell is you, realized in collaboration with the Belgrade Cultural Center, brings certain changes compared to its first realization at Kunsthalle Bratislava (5.9-16.10.2023). The artistic positions are carefully adjusted to include additional geographies and histories to emphasize the void that occurs within the local context. The new edition of the exhibition also emerges as a direct reaction and urgency to respond to the growing sympathies and uncertainties related to the rise of right-wing movements in 2024. By exploring and uncovering internal disagreements and generational gaps within the feminist movement, this exhibition examines the essential issue of appropriation by the right and mirror worlds, post-truths, and conspiracy theories. However, The rotten smell is you constructs a unique narrative, combining different experiences and perspectives to analyze the rift between third and fourth wave feminists, most often noticed through discourses on transgender identity, sex work, and hyper-femininity.

*In her recent book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein defines the term Mirror World describing our destabilized present full of doppelgängers and confusion; where extreme right-wing movements express declarative solidarity with the working class; AI-generated content blurs the line between real and fake; New Age entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers continue to break our familiar political allegiances; while many of us project our carefully curated digital doubles in the realm of social media.